Many atheists have made the claim that earth and our place in the cosmos is so remote and insignificant that earth and its inhabitants could not possibly hold a privileged position in this vast universe. Because there are so many billions of stars, it was only a matter of time before a planet would come together that offered everything necessary for life to emerge. Could they be right? If you had enough scrap metal moving around in a junk yard, isn't it only a matter of time before you assemble a space shuttle?

There are at least two problems with this analogy. First, our solar system and biosphere is far more complex and precise than a space shuttle. Second, a space shuttle is something I picked randomly, while a planet that can sustain complex life is the only possibility among billions of other possibilities. The space shuttle was assembled with a large team of engineers, scientists and mathematicians building on decades of scientific discoveries. Can enough random occurrences duplicate what presumably takes intelligent beings to develop? Put another way, if you gave millions of monkeys typewriters and had them pushing keys randomly for millions of years, how long before one of them perfectly types out the 1973 Encyclopedia Britannica? The answer of course is never.

Now atheists have made the claim that a fine-tuned solar system like ours is not sufficient evidence for a creator God, because it is possible that the solar system could have come together by chance. But just because something is possible, does not mean that it is probable. To them, the only sufficient evidence for God would be to produce God himself, as they reject any evidence they can't see or touch. But is it possible to have certainty about something that you can not see? Well of course, even for the atheist. All atheists believe in gravity, despite the fact that no one has ever seen or touched gravity. So how can we be certain it exists; because of the effect it has on everything around us. In the same way, we can be certain God exists because He has left His fingerprint on everything around us, including our magnificent solar system.

Everything we need to sustain life on earth exists under a thin layer of atmosphere that separates us from the cold, airless void of space. For centuries it was believed that the earth wasn't very special at all, but rather a large rock floating through space. The scientific discoveries of the last century have changed our perception of that view, as we've come to a better understanding of just what it takes to sustain advanced life. From the proper rotation and axis of the earth, to the proper chemical make-up, to our magnet shield, over one hundred parameters are necessary, and many of them contain the precision of a space shuttle, leaving us with God's unmistakable fingerprint.

The earth’s size, its axis, its rotation, its composition, its atmosphere, its temperature, and its crust are all finely tuned for life. In addition, its phosphorus cycles, its nitrogen cycle, its water cycle, its carbon cycle, and its calcium cycle, to name a few, all work in harmony to make life possible.1 If Earth’s magnetic field were weaker, our planet would be devastated by cosmic radiation. If it were much stronger, we would be devastated by severe electromagnetic storms. If Earth’s reflectivity or “albedo” (the total amount of light reflected off the planet versus the total amount of light absorbed) were greater than it is now, we would experience runaway freezing. If it were less than it is, we would experience a runaway greenhouse effect. If the sun were much redder, on the one hand, or bluer, on the other, photosynthesis would be impeded. Photosynthesis is a natural biochemical process crucial to life on Earth.The earth has vapor, liquid, and frozen water, which biochemists now believe are essential for life to exist. Astrophysicist Hugh Ross explains how a 2 percent change in the distance from the sun would rid the planet of life.2 Our planet must retain water vapor while allowing the slightly lighter methane and ammonia gases to escape. Therefore a change in the surface gravity or temperature of just a few percentages would make it impossible.3 If our rotation was just slightly faster, hurricanes and tornados would extinguish life; slightly slower and the temperature differences would be too great. The planets that orbit the sun with us are also essential. For example, in 1993 planetary scientist George Wetherill discovered that if Jupiter was not located precisely were it is, providing a gravitational shield for Earth, we would be bombarded with one thousand times more comets. 4Professor Walter Bradley, Ph.D., goes on to tell us that “the frequency distribution of electromagnetic radiation produced by the sun is also critical, as it needs to be tuned to the energies of chemical bonds on earth. If the photons of radiation are too energetic (too much ultraviolet radiation) then the chemical bonds are destroyed and the molecules are unstable…Another fine-tuning coincidence is that the emission spectrum for the sun not only peaks at an energy level that is ideal to facilitate chemical reactions, but it also peaks in the optical window for water.”5 The sun’s light is also very stable, fluctuating by only one-tenth of 1 percent, preventing dangerous climate swings. The moon plays a critical role of stabilizing our rotation and producing our tides, both important for life on earth. Our atmosphere contains 21 percent oxygen. At 25 percent, sporadic fire would erupt. According to Guillermo Gonzalez, Ph.D., author of The Privileged Planet, the earth’s magnetic field is crucial to life on earth because it shields us from damaging cosmic rays. The author demonstrates how plate tectonic drives the earth’s carbon dioxide rock cycle, which balances our greenhouse gases, keeping the temperature of our planet suitable for living.6Another fascinating coincidence is the incredible window we have into the universe. Our location is such that we can see out into the heavens with incredible clarity. Our solar eclipses, which are essential for studying the cosmos, are only possible because the sun is exactly 400 times bigger than the moon, which is exactly 400 times farther away. What about the fact that the laws of physics coincidentally work so well with mathematics? Not only can mathematical formulas detect physical laws, they usually display them with simplicity and harmony. Would a chaotic event produce such an orderly coexistence? The teleological argument simply put states that everything that is designed had a designer. If we look at just one of the many essential laws and characteristics of our universe, we find that it has a precision that far exceeds the most technically advanced feat of human engineering, a gravity wave telescope. Would anyone propose that such an engineering marvel would proceed from a random chaotic event? Our universe, along with the solar system, contains all the elements of a design that proceeded from a designer with intelligence and power far beyond our own comprehension. Or in the words of Isaac Newton, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”

Back in 1963 we knew of only three parameters needed to sustain life on earth. In 1989, astrophysicist Hugh Ross published the first edition of The Fingerprint of God and listed 16 characteristics requiring fine-tuning for the universe and 19 for the solar system. By 1995, when he published The Creator and the Cosmos, the list reached 26 for the universe and 41 for the solar system. Today, listed on his website www.reasons.org, you will find no less than 35 vastly improbable characteristics necessary to make life possible in the universe and 122 for the solar system.

Atheists reject creation because they claim we don’t have a testable model. But once again that’s not accurate. Chemist Fazale Rana and astrophysicist Hugh Ross have built a creation model with an array of testable predictions that span many of the scientific disciplines.7 Consequently, the model is not only corroborating past discoveries better than the evolutionary paradigm, it is also showing incredible promise with recent discoveries.